Liza's Journey
by Autobot StarRacer
Summary: Side-story to On the Wings of a Phoenix. You all know that Phoenix is a techno organic, her mother was a human called Elizabeth Grimm and her father is the autobot Sideswipe. But what's the story behind Elizabeth aka Liza and Sideswipe other than that Sideswipe landed in her yard? Well now you get to find out! This is Liza and Sides's story! One-shot hope you enjoy!


**So this is a little about Elizabeth Grimm before Phoenix was born. I guessed that you might've wanted to know a little more about Sideswipe's relationship with Liza so here ya go as promised! Hope you like it! :)**

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Elizabeth Grimm took another sip from her coffee while reading the newspaper. Yesterday had been the day she met the autobot Sideswipe. Well, at least she thought she met him. She wasn't completely sure that he even existed. Did she just dream him? She sighed and stood up. There's only one way to find out. She grabbed her lightweight jacket, considering it was late fall, and pulled on her cowboy boots. She saddled up her horse, Buttercup, and started to ride out towards the crash site. Buttercup became nervous when she saw the damage in the forest. Elizabeth's breath hitched when she saw that he was real.

Sideswipe was deep in recharge when he heard footsteps. His functions began to online as his optics opened. He saw Elizabeth approaching on a strange organic creature. The animal became nervous when it got near the silver mech. Elizabeth hopped off the creature and tied it to a tree so it wouldn't escape. Elizabeth smiled up at Sideswipe.

"Hello Sideswipe." Elizabeth greeted. Sideswipe smiled slightly.

"Mornin' Liza." Sideswipe responded. Elizabeth was startled by the nickname but decided not to ask. She walked over to her tools and began to aid him in healing his wounds. "So what is that creature you were riding just now?" Liza looked up from her work to smile at her friend.

"She's a horse, an organic animal that also inhabits this planet. Her name's Buttercup." Liza explained. Sideswipe jerked when she messed with a sensitive wire. Liza stumbled and fell off of his leg. But before she hit the ground Sideswipe snatched her gently.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean for you to fall!" Sideswipe gasped. Liza looked a little spooked at the fall but gave him a shaking smile. Sideswipe frowned and held her up so they were face-to-face.

"I'm fine Sides. I didn't really expect you to jerk like that." Liza claimed. She patted his metal cheek to assure him. Sideswipe sighed and put her down. "It looks like you stopped leaking that pink stuff…what is that anyways."

"It's called energon. It's the fuel and life source of all Cybertronians, autobots and decepticons alike." Sideswipe said as he watched her sit on his knee. "Don't touch it no matter what. If my scans are correct it's quite damaging to humans." Liza looked a little sheepish as she hid her hands. Sideswipe's optics narrowed before he scanned her. She yelped as the scan made her body tingle.

"What was that?!" she gasped. Sideswipe chuckled but glared a little.

"You touched the energon, my scans show that your hands are burned." Liza's face paled as she looked at her hands. "You should get that looked at. I'd have Ratchet the Hatchet help but I can't get ahold of anyone." He chuckled. "If he heard me call him that he'd hit me in the head with a wrench."

"Sounds like you two have an interesting relationship." Liza mused. Sideswipe laughed and shook his helm.

"You could say that, he's our CMO, the best doc around. He's a big grump though." Elizabeth laughed at his comment on Ratchet. Sideswipe smirked and crossed his arms. He had a feeling they'd be great friends.

**Time skip (after Sideswipe gains an alt)**

Arianna (Leylana's mom before she was born) knocked on Elizabeth's door one frozen morning. Her heater had broken down so she decided to ask her old friend to stay with her until it was fixed so she wouldn't freeze to death. When Elizabeth didn't answer she huffed and leaned against the wall. She noticed that Buttercup wasn't in her stall and she became worried. This wasn't the weather for riding horses, it's almost snowing! She started to follow the horse tracks in the mud into the forest. She gasped when she saw the damage done to the land and began to run down the debris. She came to a screeching halt when she saw Sideswipe sitting with Elizabeth on his knee talking to her.

"Elizabeth!" she gasped loudly. Elizabeth jumped and spun around to see her old friend standing there with wide eyes. "What the hell is that?!" Sideswipe frowned at being called a "that".

"My name is Sideswipe." Sides began as Arianna's eyes widened even larger. "I am an autonomous robotic organism from the planet Cybertron, otherwise known as an autobot. I am a sentient being so don't act like I'm just a hunk of metal."

"Oh…uh sorry about that…I just didn't know that there are GIANT FREAKING ALIEN ROBOTS ON EARTH!" Arianna yelled the last part. "And why are you in Elizabeth's backyard?"

"He crash landed and I helped repair him." Elizabeth said with a smile, patting Sideswipe's leg.

"But why are you here on Earth and not Cybertron?" Arianna questioned. Sideswipe frowned. He placed Elizabeth on the ground and stood to his full height on his wheels.

"Many years ago Cybertron lived in peace, or at least the closest thing to it. But war erupted between Optimus Prime and Megatron. Optimus is my leader, the head of the autobots, while Megatron leads the decepticons. Autobots like me fought for peace and equality, something Primes usually stand for. Megatron, however, sought destruction. His saying was 'peace through tyranny'. I've been informed through Optimus' message sent throughout the universe that Megatron is now dead, but the war still rages on. The war destroyed our planet, it's completely uninhabitable." Sideswipe's optics dimmed in sorrow as his fists clenched while he explained. "A small group of autobots had come here in search of the All Spark. I don't know much about it but my friend Jazz is offline now and the All Spark is destroyed." His optics closed and he let out a staggered sigh. Arianna suddenly felt bad for yelling at him.

"I'm…sorry. I didn't know that you lost a friend in the war." Arianna said quietly. Sideswipe shook his helm and sat down.

"It's not just him. Barricade, a decepticon, used to be a good friend of mine before the war broke out. He had been a law enforcer like Prowl. I watched my sparkparents die for Primus' sake!" Sideswipe looked like he was about to break down into tears. Tears filled the women's eyes as they looked at the heartbroken mech. "Megatron completely slaughtered them before the others came and saved me and my brother. It took eight soldiers to pry us off of the bodies. I was only a youngling at the time, or a child in your terms. We were at home when he'd attacked and that's when Sunstreaker and I decided to become autobots. I'm only about the equivalent of a 20 year old and when we were orphaned we were about 12."

"You were a soldier at that age?!" Arianna and Elizabeth exclaimed together. Sideswipe sighed and nodded.

"It was to help avenge our sparkparents. Besides, Optimus didn't know our real age, only Ratchet. He didn't tell because he wanted us to be protected. He might act like he hates us but in reality, he's like a Creator to us." Sideswipe smiled faintly.

"Why aren't you with the others?" Arianna asked softly. Sideswipe sighed, knowing that this question would pop up.

"Before I crash landed onto this rock I jammed my signal so that no decepticon, or even autobot, could track my signal. I didn't expect to be wounded and have my communications cut as well." Sideswipe murmured. Elizabeth patted his leg comfortingly.

**Time skip**

Late one night Sideswipe awoke from recharge to the roaring of a jet engine. He transformed and stood to look for the source. Suddenly, a drone transformed and crashed into him. Sideswipe growled at the decepticon and heard a scream. He looked over to see Elizabeth, still in her pajamas, standing there looking frightened. Evidently she had heard the sound and ran outside to find out what was going on.

"So Megatron's sending one of his lackeys? Such a pity, I was really hoping for a challenge." Sideswipe mocked the decepticon who growled. Sideswipe turned to Elizabeth. "Go hide!" Elizabeth ran but instead of going inside she hid behind a tree to watch. She was surprised at how fluid Sideswipe's motions were while fighting the con. He finally managed to pin it to the ground. "I know you're still there so look away Liza." She did as she was told and only heard the con scream in pain as Sideswipe's blade went through his spark. Pink energon was everywhere, not all of it belonging to the con. Elizabeth stepped out and stared at Sideswipe's now-stained sword as he wiped it on the grass.

"You…is he dead?" Elizabeth asked quietly. Sideswipe winced, realizing that he just killed a mech in front of her. "Was that a decepticon?"

"That was a decepticon drone, a scout. And yes he's dead, no one can survive a stab to the spark." Sideswipe sighed. Liza didn't know what to think. She knew that if Sideswipe didn't stop him that he'd hurt her, but did he need to die. "It seems as though the decepticons were able to pick up my signature. That means the autobots can too."

"That's good!" Liza said happily. Sideswipe frowned and glanced over at the deceased decepticon with a worried expression.

"It's not, actually. This is not something you want to get into. If the others find out that you saw me, let alone KNOW me, then you'd be taken to our base that your government provided us and questioned." Sideswipe said. Elizabeth's eyes widened. The autobots were Earth's allies? "I don't want you to be in this war. I'm sorry but I have to leave." He transformed into his alt mode and activated his holoform as Elizabeth's eyes began to water. She hugged him tightly as she let her tears go.

"Please don't go." She whimpered. Sideswipe rubbed her back soothingly. She heard clicking and realized that it was coming from Sideswipe. "Is that your language?"

"Yeah, it's commonly known as new-era Cybertronian." Sideswipe mumbled. "I promise I'll visit, but I have to find the others before they come here." After they said goodbye Sideswipe drove off, leaving Liza alone at her house.

**Time skip**

Sideswipe drove as fast as he could to Elizabeth's house. It was the first time since he'd left that he was able to visit her. He honked his horn when he was outside. Elizabeth had been reading a book when she heard him and ran to the window. When she saw Sideswipe's alt form she almost squealed in delight and ran outside. Sideswipe's holoform met her halfway to his alt and was tackled into a hug, causing him to fall over.

"Jeez femme, you're stronger than ya look." Sideswipe groaned as he stood up. Elizabeth blushed lightly as they walked inside. "Apparently my bro made it here too."

"Sunstreaker? Let me guess, you guys are still pulling pranks. What'd ya do this time?" Elizabeth mused. She noticed his eyes brighten in amusement.

"I'll give ya a hint. It involves Ironhide, a sedative stolen from Ratchet, and pink and yellow paints." Sideswipe answered. Liza burst into laughter, imagining what they'd done. It was hard since she'd never seen Ironhide or Sunstreaker.

"So have you been on any missions lately?" Liza asked. Sideswipe frowned, remembering having to fight Barricade, someone who he used to think of as a friend. Liza saw his reaction and put her hand on his. "You had to fight Barricade again, didn't you?"

"Yeah, it never gets easier to fight old friends." Sideswipe sighed. Liza patted his hand before they began to talk about random things. Sideswipe had to leave after an hour so Liza was all alone.

**Time skip**

Sideswipe cursed himself for not being able to leave base sooner to meet his now one-month-old daughter. Elizabeth hadn't even named the child yet, wanting Sideswipe to have a say in it. When he parked in front of Liza's house he wasted no time in rushing inside quietly, in case the baby was asleep. When Elizabeth saw him she was holding the baby gently in her arms. Sideswipe approached carefully to look at the little sleeping girl.

"Wanna hold her?" Liza asked softly. Sideswipe's eyes widened as he looked from his daughter to the woman he'd fallen for and nodded slowly. When the baby was placed in his arms she stirred and opened her large blue eyes. "She has your eyes, Sides." The baby snuggled into his chest.

"I can't believe I'm a Creator." He whispered. Liza gave him a confused look so he explained. "A Creator is the Cybertronian equivalent of a father. On my planet you'd be called her Carrier."

"Your terminology is weird." Liza giggled. "But it makes learning about your culture so much more interesting." She then looked down at the baby. "So what should we name her?" Sideswipe stared at her red hair that reminded him of his Carrier's paint job.

"Her hair reminds me of my Carrier, her name was Pholexia." Sideswipe said. Liza leaned against his side to look at her daughter better. "But I think that would be a strange name for a human femme." Liza gave him a thoughtful look

"How about Phoenix?" Liza suggested. Sideswipe smiled and kissed her, eyes shining brightly.

"I love it."

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And that's it! Hope you guys liked Liza's Journey and On the Wings of a Phoenix! :)


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